Mobile phones

[Rick]

I am an Orange contract customer. I chose Orange because it has better coverage of the waterways. However, I was more than a bit annoyed (and that's putting it very mildly)to have confirmed my suspicion that the offer of free for life, or at least for the life of the plan, evening calls was for new customers only and existing customers are left out. As a result I am considering change my service provider.

 

Has anyone any comments on coverage of other networks re the canal system?

 

Richard

Edited November 3, 2004 by Rick

[Richard Bustens]

WHY Because you dont have the free calls or because they are only free for the life of the contract?

[Webchem]

Not sure I understand the post Rick - probably just being thick!

 

[Rick]

Just goes to show how annoyed I was. The brain was going faster than the fingers so that I missed out a chunk,so, Richard I'd like free calls, and Webchem, no you ain't thick but perhaps I am

 

I have now edited the post.

 

Richard

[Richard Bustens]

Rick

Leave it with me till tomorow we are main dealers for all the main networks and some of the minor ones. and im'e sure i can get u upgraded to the new tariff.

If not officialy there will be a way.

[Jon]

Not quite sure where this topic fits... it can stay here for now.

 

It may be better to cancel your contract an resubscribe on a totally new account. It may mean you have to change your number though....

 

Jon

[Sue]

Numbers can usually be ported, not sure if you can port from orange to orange though, but yes agree, don't upgrade, just find a good deal with orange on a new contract for the nice freebies you are mad about

[Richard Bustens]

yes you can port your no but you can not port from, to the same network,there is always more money thrown at you if you change networks than upgrading unless you are concidered to be a high spender, everyone now pay diferent upgrade amounts depending on call spend, but if the offer you want is on orange your only option is to upgrade where you are, but there are catches with all the offers with all the networks and catches that make them not as good as they look .

There is no diferance between the neworks and you will find that with all the offers that are on offer the thing that counts is the final bill at the end of the month, and there wont be more than £1 or so between any of them in reality.

[Rick]

( for the nice freebies you are mad about )

 

Well, yes they are nice freebies. I have a 120 min per month contract with Orange at the moment. If I were a new customer and signed up now for the same time I would get an extra, free, 120 mpm between 20.00hrs and 24.00hrs. for as long as I remain on the plan.

 

Having complained to Orange about their attitude to existing customers they have offered me the same time for 20% of the normal rate. Better, but not good.

 

I would not have objected if the free mins were for a limited period but I do think that this is unfair. Rather like the time a few years ago when building societies pulled the same stunt on their customers over mortgage rates. This was ruled out of order.

 

Richard

[Jon]

I think the mobile phone industry is generally still questing over new customers, when the really should think about retain existing customers. It is so easy to 'network hop' at the end of your contract, as this offers the consumer the best deal. I've just gone from Vodafone to 3 for this reason.

 

Mobile phone shops/networks should gear their offers up to retain existing customers, by doing that less customer would jump to another network, and they would retain customers more.

 

Just my thoughts

[Richard Bustens]

Ric

Ive just spoken to dealer support at orange and they will not give you the free mins but think if you ring cancelations and ask for a pac no to move they will give it you to keep you

[dor]

Every year I have to go through the same old rigmarole:

 

My 12 months is up and they offer me a much poorer continuation to the contract. I say that is not good enough, they say it is the best they can offer. I then have to ring again and say I want to cancel. Then they make me a new offer which is much better, including a new phone. But I already have a perfectly good phone, all I really want is a new battery. So why can't they just say - OK, pay £5 a month instead of £15 and we will send you a new battery.

 

And they are the ones who try to tell you "Well of course the real cost of the phone is £400 but it is subsidised by the rental".

 

Why do these people treat me like an idiot (probably because I have to finish up with a new phone each year).

[Rick]

for a pac no to move they will give it you to keep you

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Thanks Richard, but what the heck's a pac number?

 

Richard

[nbtafelberg]

I have a great mobile phone set up.

 

1. Get two paper cups and a long piece of string

2. Put cups at end of string

3. Talk for hours free of charge

[Rick]

I have a great mobile phone set up.

 

1. Get two paper cups and a long piece of string

2. Put cups at end of string

3. Talk for hours free of charge

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Ah yes, good system but how do I arrange net access? And will it support GPRS?

 

Richard

[Jon]

PAC stands for 'Porting Authorisation Code'. It basically allows you to transfer your number from one network to another. In this case it would be the transfer of a number to a different contract.

 

From Phones4u:

 

If your existing number is important to you and you would like to transfer ('Port') it to your new mobile phone and network provider, the following is a clear guide to make this a stress-free process.

 

As long as you've fulfilled your contractual obligations (usually a 12 month contract) to your existing Network or Service Provider then you can port your existing number to a different Network.

 

Whether you have a pay as you go or a pay monthly mobile phone you can ask for your Porting Authorisation Code (' PAC') from your current Network or Service Provider. The code is normally made up of three letters and six numbers and some Networks charge a small administration fee.

 

Jon

[Jon]

Since this has moved away from boating discussion, I'm moving it to the 'Equipment' forum

 

Cheers

 

Jon

[viking]

This 'pac number' thing, does that allow you to use an existing handset on another network or just an existing number?

 

Reason I ask is that I was going to switch my service provider to Vodaphone (better overseas coverage than existing provider) but I was told that I would have to have a new handset. I thought you could just stick a new sim card in an existing one. I know you can get free handsets if you sign up for monthly contracts but I don't want to do that.

 

I didn't follow it up as although Vodaphone coverage overseas is better their contract terms couldn't match what I have already and would like to retain.

[Richard Bustens]

what network are you on?

if you are on most of the other networks your phone could be locked to that network and will need to have it unlocked to take a diferent sim

[viking]

I think you have to go down the local market trader to get that done don't you

 

I am on Virgin and was thinking of switching to Vodaphone but I don't think they were very interested in me when I told them my last 3 monthly bills were 18p, nothing and £1.25

 

You may have guessed I don't use it a lot. In fact I basically hate the damn things although I will admit there are times when they can be very useful, and when I eventually get my own boat that usage pattern will obviously change. That will be the time to look for a new contract.

[Rick]

Happy ending, mostly. I took Richard's advice and suggested to Orange that as I was excluded from their offer they obviously didn't want to keep my custom.

 

Apparently they did because after a few half-hearted offers they came up with an attractive new contract for 12 months.

 

At the end of that who knows what will be on offer. Amazingly I could only have the new contract if I had a new phone. I didn't want it as my Nokia 6310i has a modem and aerial socket, ideal for net access but the nice lady did say that I could put the new sim card in my old phone. I trust I am not being misled about this, am I?

 

Richard

[theshowmaster]

Not as far as I know. We've done similar things before with our handsets when we changed them. We ended up with new handsets we didn't necessarily need and some of the old ones got passed on to family and friends (we were all on orange). There is no problem with needing unlocked phones if you are using them on the same network.

 

I blieve that not all networks lock their contract phones to the network. I seem to remember that cellnet and one2one don't (or is my info a little out of date ).

 

Michael

[Richard Bustens]

hi

On contract Orange and T-mod do lock all phones but v/fone and o2 dont unless they are there specials on live.

but all p&g phones are locked because of the subsedies.